Amanda's head was abuzz on the drive back.
There were so many mysteries, so many questions, so many things that didn't make sense. Why did a creature on another planet breathe oxygen, for one? She wasn't an expert, but wasn't an oxygen majority on Earth a complete accident? The alien should breathe methane, or CO2, or not at all. Why oxygen?
How had the pod holding the alien worked for potentially billions of years? Surely, even the most efficient and long-lived power sources were long dried up by now. Were there more of these pods around Mars, waiting within secrets of secrets to be found? Could there be hundreds of survivors, just itching to be returned to a dead homeworld?
She had no clue.
The purple horse alien in question was currently sleeping in the passenger seat, blanket and mask still attached. Amanda had kept the drive slow- Mars dunes were chaotic enough as is, she didn't need to send the alien flying on a Martian speed bump, seatbelt or otherwise.
It hadn't been until now that the naut really looked at the alien. It was purple, with a deep blue and pink streaked mane and tail. Horn and wings. About chest height.
She thought the wings were rather pointless, until she remembered Mars had less than half Earth's gravity, so the alien very well might be able to fly under its own power. The horn was pretty apparent- used for goring and defense. She had no clue why the eyes were the size of bowling balls.
The alien horse had been awake for all of five minutes, jumping at every minute noise. But it must've had caffeine withdrawal worse than Omega, because it had passed out pretty quickly. She hadn't stopped glancing at it- how could she? A living specimen of some absurdly ancient Martian society. 'Prehistoric' was way too much of an understatement.
She still had no idea if bringing the creature back to the station was smart. For all she knew, it was waiting to infiltrate their core structures before imploding.
Yep, that sounded stupid. Unlikely.
More immediately and concerning: would the station materials be toxic to it? It had been sitting in the rover 'naked' the entire drive, and displayed no outward negative effects that she could recognize. But what if it was like cancer, only showing up ages later for a depressing and painful death?
That wasn't even considering alien microbes. Amanda's suit protected her, but the moment she brought the creature inside? She could keep her suit on, but everybody else was sleeping without one. History told what happened even between isolated humans and disease- she could scarcely imagine the devastation of ET diseases in either direction.
Or how Omega and her naut crew would react to all this. They'd likely call her insane, mad, stupid, perhaps malicious. She would be fired without a doubt, possibly kicked from Mars missions permanently.
Despite all this, Amanda Chorol continued driving.
-----
Now she was stuck.
Not the rover, but choices confuzzled her. Where to take the alien? The infirmary would be her first choice, but putting a possibly anxious and paranoid alien in a room with dozens of chemicals, drugs and medical tools didn't seem like the optimal path. But where else, then? Her cot? The storage and bot bay? Bio?
Actually, Bio didn't seem like the worst option. But if it was intelligent enough, it might recognize it at a lab and think it's being dissected or something. Amanda knew that wasn't the case, but the creature didn't.
And she'd rather not have a hole dug in her intestine by that horn.
She finished de-suiting, having set the sleeping(?) horse alien onto a nearby shelf. She couldn't stop glancing at it- how could she? The fact she'd found a living alien still hadn't fully processed, and even moreso that it was a unicorn-pegasus-horse thing. And was purple.
She also noticed some kind of... she wanted to call it "tattoo" on the thing's rear, but it might very well be a physical thing. She wasn't about to start groping a horse alien's butt to find out.
Despite her mind screaming at her that it was stupid, Amanda left the alien alone for the moment, while she investigated each room of the station, trying to find the most suitable place for the creature. At least the thing breathed oxygen and had a similar temperature limit to humans; she would've been a loss otherwise.
Comms, dispatch and command were immediate no-go's. She highly doubted the kitchen, mess room or bathrooms were a good candidate either. She wasn't about to take it into any cot besides her own, and even then it seemed... not good. The storage bay was probably fine, but she also didn't want an alien freaking out in an area with lots of delicate electronics.
So infirmary or Bio it was.
She idly grabbed a donut from the pantry as she passed by (thank you Earth shipments), then leaned against a wall, focusing more.
It was a tough decision, not least of which because both rooms had similar problems. Fragile equipment, the feeling of being a guinea pig, and the fact Amanda was neither a biologist nor a medical expert of any sort. She knew first aid, of course, but she doubted that would be enough.
After a few minutes of thought, she decided. She headed back, picked up the horse, and headed for the infirmary. Technically she should've had some sort of mask in case of alien germs, but that wasn't her highest priority.
Along the way, while carrying the alien, she noticed something strange: it felt like there was... some kind of invisible barrier between it and her. Like someone had stuck a really thin sheet of glass between the two.
Time to check that out later, walking now.
Pushing aside assorted medical instruments and containers, she set the horse down onto a counter. Mission accomplished.
Now what?
She scratched her head idly. She... actually had no idea. It was still sleeping, so she could analyze it more closely, but she really didn't want it waking up and thinking it was an experiment or such.
Then, all of a sudden, she came up with a monumentally dumb plan.
A dumb plan that might just be it.
-----
Dr. Steffan was not happy.
Not only had he had an exceptionally aggravating dream about magical ponies or some other nonsense (he blamed the recent cadaver discoveries), but one of the explorers had woken him up.
Talking about ponies. Or horse aliens. Tomato, tomato.
He desperately wanted to ignore her and go back to sleep, tumultuous as it was, but unfortunately Miss Chorol had been the one to discover not only the buried artifacts, but also the first to find the Martian catacombs. So her word was perhaps slightly less full of nonsense.
Putting on his glasses and grumbling, Steffan stood up and stretched, still in the half-awake state so common and eternal among the explorers.
Miss Chorol had said something about 'I really need a biology expert, right now'. He couldn't fathom why; they'd already been analyzing the Martian remains from weeks ago. But she was frantic and looked on the verge of panicking, which he certainly didn't need.
Stumbling and muttering under his breath, Dr. Steffan slowly made his way to the infirmary where Miss Chorol insisted her 'horse alien' was located. Before that, however, he made certain to grab a mug of americano.
Or maybe a few. He was tired.
Miss Chorol stood outside the infirmary entrance, arms crossed and tapping her foot. She kept glancing erratically between the approaching Steffan and into... something in the medbay.
Rolling his eyes, Steffan stepped in and-
He nearly dropped his mug.
Sitting there, in plain view, was an alien. A purple pony-like alien, with a horn and cartoonishly large wings, some sort of marking on its rear, and was currently sleeping. Or it looked like it.
He had to slap himself to be sure he wasn't still delirious. Nope, it was certainly still sitting there.
Of all things, the first to strike his mind was:
"You brought it into the station unsterilized?!"
Miss Chorol attempted to shush him, nodding to the sleeping ET. "Look, what would you have done if you found a living specimen of an ancient alien species? Leave it there? It was suffocating, Steff."
He dragged a hand over his face. There wasn't enough coffee on Earth for this. "So... it's alive. A member of one of those skeletons we found... is alive."
He rubbed his chin. "The fact it has both horn and wings is strange. We've only seen one other instance- in a cadaver, of course -and it was twice the size. Is this one immature?"
Miss Chorol shrugged. "That's what I woke you up for, I have no clue. I just found it underneath the crypt I found weeks ago. It was in what I think was a cryopod, but all the ones around it were empty."
Steffan narrowed his gaze. "And why exactly were you by yourself, at night, wandering the crypts?"
Before the explorer could argue, Steffan waved her off. "It's not my responsibility anyway. Let Omega lecture you about it."
Miss Chorol folded her arms, staring at the ET. "So... what do we do?"
Steffan wanted to make some remark, but he was just as lost. What should they do? In all the search for Mars life, they had definitely never expected to find a living specimen.
Steffan looked to the explorer. "Tell me what you know of it."
Miss Chorol put a fist to her chin. "Well, you can see clearly what it looks like. I know it breathes O2, because when it fell out of the pod, it began suffocating; I grabbed my spare mask and tank, and attached it to the alien. I also know it has a similar temperature comfort range to us, because... well, that's pretty apparent considering it isn't freezing or burning up."
Steffan facepalmed. "You randomly gave it a gas that is truly an anomaly even on Earth?"
"What else would I have done? Let it choke to death?"
"No, but... urgh. Just... grab my bag from the cots. I'll need to analyze it." Steffan grabbed a sterilized pair of medical gloves from a drawer.
The explorer shifted in place. "Is that... a good idea? If it wakes up, won't it think we're experimenting or... dissecting it?"
Steffan rolled his eyes. "It is half our size, and I've seen you lift one end of a rover. Physical safety is hardly a concern."
Chorol huffed. "Many things wrong with that. I was worried about it feeling safe, not whether I'd be attacked... mostly. And it's adapted to Martian gravity, I am not."
Steffan waved her away. "Just grab the bag."
She took one last glance at the alien before leaving, and froze.
"Steffan."
"Look, I said-"
"Steffan, look at it."
Grunting, he turned to the-
It had woken up.
And was staring at them.
Point of order, they are the aliens. Not the pony. :P
I think its a good idea to not show the Equestrian side of things, at least not now. Let us learn along with the researchers.
I like the touch you added about there being a cadaver like her but twice as big, was a good setup for further trauma.
10950806
Yeah, I'm sure Twilight will have words to say about their terms for her.
10950811
That's the plan. I'm a sucker for "humans are confused as heck about ponies" stuff, and having Mars be (or at least host) Equestria was perfect for it.
10950819
The humans think we are the aliens? How dare they! Equestria is the true world, Earth is the alien planet.
10950904
And why do they keep calling it Mars? Its name is 'Equus'! Stupid humans.
10950909
I agree. They'll know the folly of their mistakes when they find what we left behind...
10950926
Honestly, it being only 3 chapters is very wobbly. It was originally intended as a one-shot, but now I have no clue.
I do have certain scenes in mind, but no concrete word or chapter estimate.
Welcome to my world, Take me to your Hasbro ☣
Buy our toys ☢
Hear the song of my ponies 🎼 My Little Pony Ah Ah Ah Ah Ah Ahhhhh 🎶
To Serve Pony
Puny Humans Spike smash
Fun fact, infection actually requires EXTREMELY specific evolution, so the virus can bind to your proteins etc. A true alien's microbes would likely be harmless to us, and their removal could actually harm it (remove human skin microbes and you risk infection)
CELESTIA NOOOOOOOOOO (hopefully Luna survived >.> Dreams of ponies, hmmm...)
Twi's a fan of science, so hopefully she won't be too freaked out about waking in a room with aliens being all gloved up etc. Especially if she isn't strapped down.
10950935
If you wanted to write more, i'd definitely be excited to read it. The restoration of Equus, the rescue of other ponies... Possibly an attempt to reverse the whole calamity with time magic... I would be hyped! (And I like to comment on every new chapter that I read, if you like that )
10951183
I imagine being brought directly in front of a living alien would muddy the minds of even highly educated peeps.
I guess we'll have to wait and see (even though I know )
I always appreciate a stalker.
10951189
It's a common misconception, but it's a good excuse for him not realizing instantly
Take your time writing. It's better too have an update that is well-written than one that is not, but was released quickly.
oh boy, can't wait for the rest :D
10950904
pretty much, if this planet is billions of years older, then technically it is
This, this I like. Congrats. Looking forward to more.
And now we discover if there's a language barrier.
10951625
10951659
https://derpibooru.org/images/2247652?q=hyperventilating
Liking it so far.
10952338
I am ashamed to say your user made me lol.
I do hope there where other emergency cryo pods and Twilight isn't alone. It's already implyed Celestia or Luna didn't make it. The pony species could be restored of there is a significant hibernating populace somewhere. Or Twilight could resort to "abducting" ponies from the past who vanished under "unexplained" circumstances.
ThIs makes "War of the Worlds" a bit more awkward
Actually, oxygen is a pretty safe bet as a breathing gas, based on the distance from the sun and the size of the creature. You need a high energy metabolism for a large creature, and at anywhere near the melting point of water, the best candidate for that is oxygen/water/carbon.
10951182
That's what viruses require because they have to inject themselves into a cell and manipulate its innards. Microbes will just try to eat whatever they float into that doesn't immediately kill them, and it'd be a huge crapshoot from there. This scenario wouldn't result in a viral outbreak, but some manner of bacterial problem is depressingly likely for both sides. Immune systems would most likely adapt pretty fast, and most of the really alarming stuff is blunted by general sanitary lifestyle (nearly all our big historic microbial plagues were pest carried, and majorly blunted by sanitation and pest control before we figured out antibiotics). But first contact would likely involve getting almost every otherwise annoyance plague at once, and the treatments may not work cross species.
Additional probably small but cannot be ignored risk that more normal bodily cultures like oral microbes in spittle might just find something unusually edible in a different species or tissue it doesn't normally encounter. For instance we have an amoeba in most of our freshwater that's incredibly benign and just quietly eats other stuff in the water. Almost every system of every macro species on Earth is too saline for it to live...unless it somehow gets snorted all the way into your sinuses, crawls all the way through the upper plate and nerve packets that register smell, and doesn't get antibodied fast enough along the way - then it eats your friggen brain. It happens so rarely (literally single digits annually) and kills the host so quickly and surely (two people have survived it, ever) that it couldn't have evolved to do that on purpose, it's just a cartoonishly deadly misfire of running into tasty molecules somewhere it doesn't normally live.
A greater long term risk is that one world's microfauna would just wreck the other's somehow which would have butterfly effects on the whole ecosystem. But obviously in this case...well...that's not a risk anymore. RIP planet.
More immediately concerning is that Twi just went between two different atmospheric pressures literally over 100x apart and spent a good bit of time in distant subzero temperature to boot.
10k? Make it longer
Aaaaaactually, high-percentage oxygen atmospheres might be much more common than expected, especially on Super Earths which have a high probability of being 'ocean worlds'. In fact, we may have already found several such worlds around Trappist-1, since they are nearly Earth-size but which a much lower density and no sign of an extended atmosphere, meaning whatever low-density material composes a significant part of their mass is confined to a liquid layer, and that can only mean water on a planet that size.
Now, with such an immense amount of water, CO2 would be practically all dissolved into it, especially since these oceans would be hundreds of miles deep and at insane pressures, which can hold astounding amounts of CO2 basically forever. The oxygen would be produced by the copious water vapor being split apart by UV radiation from the star. The oxygen would form into its diatomic stable molecular form, and the hydrogen would be lost to space since it's so light and Earth-level gravity cannot hold onto it for long.
And with Trappist-1 being a teeny-tiny red dwarf, the planets must be VERY close to be warmed by it. In fact, they are all in an incredibly close orbit, almost as close as they can be without tossing each other out of orbit through tidal effects... it's very similar in setup to Jupiter's large moons, in fact, with similar mass proportions to the star.) You can actually think of Trappist's system to being a scaled up version of Jupiter, with about double the large 'moons'.
We shall be finding out MUCH more about this astounding system within a year, assuming the James Webb Space Telescope successfully operates once it reaches the L2 Lagrange Point. Trappist-1 is a mere 39 light years from Earth, close enough that the telescope might be able to image the outmost ones directly! Enough to determine temperature and atmospheric composition!
This is most exciting for Trappist-1e, a planet that physically is a true Earth twin, just about dead-center in the star's habitable zone and almost identical mass and density to Earth. Most excitingly, the tidal interactions among the planets will keep the cores all molten, and the orbital near-resonances and slight eccentricity could prevent tidal locking, resulting in a scenario similar to Mercury, with a slow rotation, enough to keep a weak internal dynamo functioning and a MAGNETIC FIELD!!! Even a weak one would deflect much of the solar wind from the small star and keep the atmosphere stable.
Trappist-1f, g, and h are almost certainly water worlds, like a giant Ganymede or enormous Enceladus, perhaps as much as 20-50% water by mass! Now, what makes this system PERFECT for alien bases is that water loss by UV radiation on planet e can be easily replenished by taking it from these close-by planets! e and f, for instance, are a mere 0.009AU apart! Less than 1 million miles! And, using the gravitational resonances, large amounts of material could be transferred from planet to planet via planetary elevators and stations. Even the larger planet g, because of its low density, means it has a little lower gravity than Earth. In fact, all the water worlds have less gravity than Earth except for maybe e, which is roughly 95% the gravity of Earth. Frozen h has merely half the gravity, so it's probably the best source to mine for ice. It might have a magnetic field similar to Ganymede's, generated by a salty ocean beneath a thick crust of ice, and kept liquid by both the core's heat and the tidal interactions.
Hydrogen loss (a measure of water dissociation) from planet e is estimated to be about 1 metric ton per second, or about 31.5 million tons per year. That's a lot of water loss and would desiccate the planet over a couple billion years (which is about how old the star is). But, not when you can get a steady stream of new water pouring in constantly from the neighboring planets! Those ocean worlds in total possess enough water to refill Earth's oceans by as much as 50 times!
Yes, very exciting times coming in astronomy if they can get the darn telescope to work right.